Programmed by:Egyptian
Series programmed by Chris D., with the assistance of Martina Palaskov Begov and Alan K.
Rode. Shorts programmed by Andrew P. Crane. Aero Series compiled by Gwen Deglise with the
assistance of Grant Moninger. Some program notes by Jim Hemphill.

The Film Programs of the American
Cinematheque are presented at the magnificently renovated, historic 1922 Grauman's
Hollywood Egyptian Theatre. Located at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard.

Photo Credit: Randall Michelson. Detail of Egyptian
Theatre Ceiling.

<<< August 2 - 26, 2007
>>>

Win Hollywood Bowl Tickets!

All ticket buyers who see a movie this
month will have a chance to win tickets to a live movie music performance at the
Hollywood Bowl, plus a picnic dinner from Bristol Farms! Entry blanks at the
Egyptian & Aero Theatres. Details

The Big Picture: The Films of Paramount Pictures

Sunday, Sept. 27:30 PM

7th Festival of Fantasy,
Horror & Science-Fiction 2007

In collaboration with scienceplusfiction, Trieste
International Science Fiction Film Festival, Italy

Interested in being a vendor or performer
during our festival? Download information here!

The festival tributes the work of late author Kurt
Vonnegut and director Curtis Harrington (WHATS THE MATTER WITH HELEN) with
individual Memorial Tribute Screenings. Vonnegut will be remembered with a double feature
of film adaptations of his SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE and the rare HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE
(the title character is deceased and plays shuffleboard with Jesus in heaven). GAMES,
Harringtons 1967 pop art tale of sinister parlor games starring Simone Signoret,
James Caan and Katherine Ross will be presented on the Egyptians giant screen - in
the theatre where Cinematheque member Curtis spent many nights watching films himself!
If you like your horror and sci-fi with a British accent, you wont want to miss
these hard to see devilish delights from the 1960's - 1970's, including the rare THE
PROJECTED MAN starring the founder of Janus Films(!); HORROR HOTEL, for which the phrase
Ring for Doom Service was coined; DEVIL DOLL, the creepiest of evil puppet
movies; Ken Russells sex and satan blashphemy THE DEVILS (not on DVD!) with Oliver
Reed; QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, a brilliant fusion of apocalyptic sci fi and supernatural
mystery; a restored, uncut print of Hammer Films atomic age parable,THESE ARE THE
DAMNED directed by Joseph Losey - and dont forget, NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A
STRANGER!

European terror lurks! Some new, including the Los Angeles premiere of Lamberto Bava's
latest, GHOST SON (not the only film in the fest to feature some serious sex with
the undead); Swedish vampire flick FROSTBITE, steeped in Goth terror during an
eternal Lapland night; French mockumentary, OUR EARTHMEN FRIENDS; and some retro: Roger
Vadim's dreamy, lesbian vampire classic, BLOOD AND ROSES, Mario Bava's last feature,
SHOCK, Pupi Avati's frightening ZEDER, Jess Francos VENUS IN FURS, a bewitching
ghost story with a jazz rock fusion score, inspired by the tragic life of jazzman Chet
Baker, and more!

Made on American soil, where sci-fi proliferated in the atomic age, these 1950's drive-in
masterpieces will scare you silly! Watch out for the pod people in the classic INVASION OF
THE BODY SNATCHERS and marvel at the plot ingenuity behind the absent-minded professor
contaminated by poisonous prehistoric fish blood that turns him into the MONSTER ON THE
CAMPUS!!!, Plus, the extremely rare WORLD WITHOUT END (the first science fiction film to
be shot in Cinemascope and color!), screening in a gorgeous new 35mm print!

Treat yourself to three of the best Jules Verne adventure adaptations ever -- JOURNEY TO
THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA projected on
the Egyptians big screen! Not to mention Peter Lorre classics and new Science
Fiction and Horror short films with many of the filmmakers in attendance.

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Japanese sensation, Ultraman with the Los Angeles
Premiere of ULTRAMAN MEBIUS AND THE ULTRA BROTHERS and last, but not least, the Los
Angeles Premiere (and limited engagement) of TRAPPED ASHES, the anthology horror opus
produced and written by former American Cinematheque programmer, Dennis Bartok. Flip this
page over to see the in-person guests brave enough to enter our theatre of terror!
At the Aero, youll see Charlton Heston abused by civilized apes in the original
PLANET OF THE APES, screening with its sequel, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, an
In-Person Richard Donner double bill of LADYHAWKE and THE GOONIES and new films (Jim
Hemphill's BAD REPUTATION, Takashi Okazaki's AFRO SAMURAI and Erik Nelson's
documentary-work-in-progress, DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH about legendary science fiction
scribe Harlan Ellison - with Mr. Ellison In-Person!).

Join us for our Ghoulish Gathering on August 18th, a
meeting of the macabre with horrific music, food and drink. Come as the monster you are.
No imbibing of human flesh or souls permitted!

Thursday, August 2  8:00 PM

Los Angeles Premiere!

TRAPPED ASHES, 2006, Lions Gate, 105
min. Seven strangers are trapped inside an infamous "House of Horrors" during a
Hollywood movie studio tour and forced to tell their most terrifying personal stories in
order to get out alive. In the twisted tradition of classic anthology horror pictures such
as TALES FROM THE CRYPT and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, this very entertaining
multi-story film was co-produced and written by former American Cinematheque programmer Dennis
Bartok. Joe Dante (THE HOWLING; GREMLINS) directed the wraparound narrative
with episodes helmed by masters Ken Russell (THE DEVILS), Sean Cunningham
(FRIDAY THE 13th), Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP) and John Gaeta
(Oscar winner for visual effects on THE MATRIX Trilogy). In addition, the
multi-Academy-Award-winning Robert Skotak (TERMINATOR 2; ALIENS) supervised the visual
effects and acclaimed composer Kenji Kawai (who scored the original Japanese versions of
RING and DARK WATER) supplied the music. With a super cast that includes Henry Gibson
(NASHVILLE), John Saxon (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Lara Harris (AMERICAN
PIE); Jayce Bartok (THE STATION AGENT; RED DOORS), Amelia Cooke (SPECIES
III) and Ryo Ishibashi (AUDITION). Discusion following
with writer/producer Dennis Bartok, directors Monte Hellman, Sean Cunningham, actors John
Saxon, Scott Lowell, Rachel Veltri, Jayce Bartok, producers Yuko Yoshikawa and Yoshifumi
Hosoya, Zoran Popovic (cinematographer), Roy Knyrim
(creature/make-up FX) and production designer Robb Wilson King.

Friday, August 3  8:00 PM

New European Horror Showcase  Lamberto
& Mario Bava Double Feature:

Los Angeles Premiere! GHOST SON, 2006, Adriana Chiesa, 96 min. Director Lamberto
Bavas ghost saga begins with very much in-love couple Stacey (Laura Harring,
of MULHOLLAND DRIVE) and Mark (John Hannah) living a dream life in the South
African veldt. Then Mark suffers fatal car crash injuries in the remote countryside. Soon
after, he appears to Stacey in a dream. Or was it real? The couple make love, and Stacey
gradually begins to lose her grip on reality. After examinng her, doctor Pete
Postlethwaite is astonished to find her pregnant. Everyone assumes the child was
conceived before Marks death, but we know otherwise. When the baby is delivered,
nightmarish events mushroom for Stacey, and she realizes that Marks clinging ghost
 nourished by the rich, local culture of ancient African spirit lore - wants to pull
her out of this world and into the next through their son. NOT ON
DVD

SHOCK (aka BEYOND THE DOOR II),1979,
92 min. Mario Bavas last feature film (co-directed with son Lamberto,
uncredited) revisits themes first explored in KILL, BABY, KILL and WHIP AND THE BODY as Daria
Nicolodi (DEEP RED) and her child are haunted by the ghost of her first husband, a
drug addict. Actor Ivan Rassimov (MAN FROM DEEP RIVER), who usually played a
villain in 1970s Italian pictures, does a rare good guy turn here as Nicolodis
concerned doctor. With John Steiner (TENEBRE) as Nicolodis current,
almost-never-at-home airline pilot husband. Contains some of maestro Bavas scariest,
most impressive effects.

Rare! IB Technicolor Print! BLOOD AND ROSES 1960, Paramount, 74 min. Roger Vadim
(BARBARELLA) directed this sumptuously beautiful adaptation of J. Sheridan LeFanus
vampire classic, Carmilla, updating it effectively to a contemporary setting.
Carmilla (Annette Vadim) suffers pangs of jealousy when her beloved cousin Leopoldo
Karnstein (Mel Ferrer) becomes engaged to ravishing Georgia (Elsa Martinelli).
Carmilla soon comes to believe she is possessed by her ancient, undead ancestor, the
vampire Millarca, and begins a reign of terror on the grounds of Leopoldos estate.
Director Vadim and cinematographer Claude Renoir concentrate on the storys
sensuality, creating a dreamlike, ethereal quality that is unpretentiously poetic and
positively entrancing. Unfortunately, American censors snipped several minutes of footage
to tone down the lesbian slant in the narrative. The exceptionally rare French version is
even harder to see than this English-language release. It is a testament to Vadim,
cinematographer Renoir, music composer Jean Prodromides and the cast that the film remains
so poignant and haunting, embodying the spiritual anguish of the characters as well as the
horror. An underrated, hard-to-see classic. NOT ON DVD

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE , 1963,
Universal, 88 min. Edward de Souza and Jennifer Daniel are honeymooning
British newlyweds in rural Bavaria circa 1910 when their car runs out of gas. They find
shelter in a virtually deserted hotel and soon learn that the nearby village lives in fear
of the neighboring castle. And castle owner, Dr. Ravna (Noel Willman) is only too
glad to extend his hospitality to the stranded pair. Sinister Ravna and his equally
predatory son and daughter have their own agenda, hoping to recruit unawares beauty,
Daniel, into their secret society of degenerate bloodsuckers. Clifford Evans (CURSE
OF THE WEREWOLF) is a reclusive, alcoholic professor who has already lost his daughter to
the vampires, and he helps de Souza fight the undead when Daniel suddenly goes missing. " one
of Hammer Films' finest moments. The entire cast is stellar down to the last extra."
 Christopher Dietrich, DVD Drive-In;" a typically effective
score by James Bernard, quality performances, and it both bathes in tradition and extends
it. Those are all good reasons to seek this film out, but the best is that restrained but
prolonged tension and ghostly ambience that Hammer did so well. While there are films that
achieve it as well as KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, few achieve it better." Classic-Horror.com

Sunday, August 5  7:30 PM

Witch Hunters Double Feature:

THE DEVILS, 1971, Warner Bros., 111
min. Director Ken Russells still-shockingadaptation of Aldous
Huxleys "Devils Of Loudun" was vilified as blasphemous and excessive upon
its initial release, and remains one of the most disturbingly memorable films from the
early 1970s. The films allegory of a corrupt power structure equating sexual
activity with satanism, all for the sake of political and religious repression, is more
relevant today than ever. In the 17th century, French Cardinal Richelieus
minions use the womanizing of activist priest Urban Grandier (Oliver Reed) as a
pretext for the Inquisition to investigate his "diabolic possession" of the
local nuns, including demented, hunchback Mother Superior Sister Jeanne (an unforgettable Vanessa
Redgrave). With support from an excellent cast that includes Dudley Sutton, Gemma
Jones and Michael Gothard. NOT ON DVD

New 35mm Print!BLOOD ON SATANS CLAW, 1971, MGM
Repertory, 93 min. Dir. Piers Haggard. One of our most-requested titles is back in
an encore screening, in the first new print in over 30 years! In 17th century
England, a farmer (Barry Andrews) unearths a hideous, fur-covered claw in his
field, unleashing a wave of superstition, hysteria and devil worship by the village youth.
Ranks with Michael Reeves WITCHFINDER GENERAL as one of the most chilling and
evocative horror films of the late 1960s. With Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden. "Every
scene is soaked in the lush greens and browns of a damp British summer, giving it a sense
of time and place which helps suspend disbelief and sucks the viewer in 
its almost like the Tigon crew traveled back in time to film it. It is this quality
that amplifies the horror, making you believe that what is happening on the screen
actually happened."  British Horror Films (UK)NOT
ON DVD

Wednesday, August 8  8:00 PM

Kurt Vonnegut Tribute Double Feature:

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, 1972,
Universal, 104 min. Director George Roy Hill and screenwriter Stephen Geller
(TVs "Mission: Impossible") adapt Kurt Vonneguts sardonic
exploration of the timeless madness of human existence, from wartime atrocity to
middle-class mediocrity to interplanetary euphoria. Middle-aged optometrist, Billy Pilgrim
(Michael Sacks), who survived the hellish WWII firebombing of Dresden,
simultaneously exists in the past as a young POW in a German prison camp and in the far
future as an elderly resident in a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore (where he is memorably
pampered by Valerie Perrine as the libidinous starlet, Montana Wildhack). With Ron
Leibman, Sharon Gans, Holly Near, Perry King and Eugene Roche. "Mr.
Hill's achievement in SLAUGHTERHOUSE -FIVE is in transferring to film the author's
ebullient senses of humor and chaos Second to THE GODFATHER, SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE is
probably the most perfectly cast film in months, mostly with actors who have had little
previous film experience "  Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Rare!HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE, 1971, Sony
Repertory, 105 min. Director Mark Robson adapts Kurt Vonneguts satiric play
puncturing arrogant Anglo Saxon machismo. After being lost for eight years in the
Amazonian rain forest and given up for dead, big white hunter Rod Steiger returns
home with his sidekick (and dropper of the Nagasaki A-bomb), William Hickey
(PRIZZIS HONOR). But macho blowhard Steiger is in for a surprise when he finds that
his former-carhop wife (Susannah York) is now highly educated and enamored of a
gentle, pacifist doctor (George Grizzard). Don Murray (BUS STOP) is yet
another new fixture on the scene, an over-eager vacuum cleaner salesman hoping to charm
his way into Yorks heart. Pamelyn Ferdin is the couples deceased
progeny, Wanda June, playing shuffleboard with Jesus in heaven. Vonneguts priceless
verbal sparring ensues, with often hilariously barbed results. "Rod Steiger shines
as the self-deceiving ultra-masculine hero, returned from eight years in the Amazon
jungle, to find that not only has his loving wife, a former pinheaded carhop (played
brilliantly by Susannah York), become a levelheaded intellectual equal but has gone to his
extreme opposite in seeking another soul mate."  VarietyNOT ON DVD

Thursday, August 9  8:00 PM

Peter Lorre Double Feature:

THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS,
1946, Warner Bros., 88 min. Dir. Robert Florey. Volatile (and dead) concert pianist
Francis Ingram (Victor Francen) has left his Italian estate to his American nurse (Andrea
King), much to the chagrin of an avaricious brother and nephew. Peter Lorre is
the dead musicians astrology-obsessed, mentally unbalanced librarian who becomes
convinced that his late employers left hand -- now missing from the corpse -- is
creeping about the villa, bent on murdering all those who oppose Ingrams last
testament. The rest of the household, including Kings paramour Robert Alda
and police commissoner J. Carrol Naish, soon become convinced he may be right. The
over-the-top Max Steiner score ably punctuates the deranged proceedings. NOT ON DVD

MAD LOVE, 1935, Warner Bros., 68 min.
Dir. Karl Freund. "Dead hands that live...and love...and kill!" More
macabre shenanigans involving amputated hands.Grand Guignol theatre star Yvonne
Orlac (Frances Drake) goes to brilliant -- but crazy -- surgeon Dr. Gogol (Peter
Lorre) as a last resort when her concert pianist husband Stephen (Colin Clive,
of FRANKENSTEIN) has his hands mangled in a train accident. Gogol, insanely in love with
Yvonne, and willing to do anything to steal her away, transplants the hands of a
guillotined murderer onto the comatose Stephen. Counting on the highly-suggestive nature
of the neurotic pianist, Gogol makes him believe he also possesses the dead killers
personality. An intense, delirious adaptation of French writer Maurice Renards
oft-filmed novel, The Hands Of Orlac.

Friday, August 10  7:30 PM

Fifties Cinemascope Sci-Fi Double Feature:

New 35mm Print!JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH,
1959, 20th Century Fox, 132 min. Dir. Henry Levin. Along with Richard
Fleischers 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, this is one of the finest versions of a
Jules Verne novel ever filmed, with James Mason beautifully cast as an obsessive
Scottish geology professor who descends into the depths of the Earth with eager student Pat
Boone, alluring widow Arlene Dahl, and sinister nemesis Thayer David.
The dazzling underground crystal caves, ferocious dinosaurs and mushroom forests are among
the most delightful Hollywood creations of the 1950s. Produced and co-written by
Charles Brackett (Billy Wilders longtime partner), with a terrific stereo score by
the maestro Bernard Herrmann. Rarely revived since its original release.

Ultra-Rare! New 35mm Print!WORLD WITHOUT END, 1956, Warner Bros., 80 min.
Dir. Edward Bernds (RETURN OF THE FLY). Allied Artists was trying to shed their
"poverty-row" Monogram-roots when they produced this relatively big budget
sci-fi epic. Indeed, it was one of the very first science-fiction pictures to be lensed in
Cinemascope and color. Hugh Marlowe (EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS), Rod
Taylor (THE TIME MACHINE), Nelson Leigh and Christopher Dark are a
quartet of scientists catapulted far into Earths future when their spaceship,
returning from a Martian orbit, goes through a freak energy belt. After crash landing,
they find giant cave spiders, cavemen mutants and an elite underground civilization
afflicted by sterilization from repeated atomic wars. This extremely hard-to-see cult
movie supplies well-acted, pulp sci-fi thrills in the best Saturday matinee tradition.
With Nancy Gates (SUDDENLY)and Shawn Smith (IT! THE TERROR FROM
BEYOND SPACE) as the future girls-next-door. With Lisa Janti. Discussion
in between films with actress Lisa Janti (WORLD WITHOUT END) and actor Pat Boone. NOT
ON DVD

Friday, August 10  7:30 PM [Spielberg Theatre]

New European Sci-Fi/Horror Showcase - Double
Feature:

FROSTBITE, 2006, Solid Entertainment, 98
min. Moscow-educated director Anders Banke delivers this alternately scary and
funny horror movie, one of the very few Swedish vampire movies. In midwinter, medical
doctor Annika and her 17-year-old daughter Saga have just moved to Lapland for
Annikas new job. The little town with its seemingly endless polar night appears to
be just as boring as Saga thought it would be. Saga quickly meets new friends through
Vega, a Goth girl who acts as though she has known Saga for years. But things are amiss in
the biting winter cold. Annika finds out that there is something not quite right at the
hospital, and the little community is suddenly struck by mysterious deaths. There is
something hunting in the night, and when the world around her disappears into a maelstrom
of snow, ice and blood, the last thing she wants to hear is that theres more than a
month until dawn! With Petra Nielsen, Grete Havnesköld, Jonas Karlström. NOT ON DVD

OUR EARTHMEN FRIENDS, 2006,
Films 13, 84 min. French director Bernard Werber delivers a bizarrely funny
mockumentary. In order to observe human subjects in the wild and under controlled
situations, the aliens pluck two strangers, a man and a woman, from a forest and drop them
 naked  into a clear cage suspended in darkness. Exhibit A is painter Agathe,
whose volcanic temper is offset by the confused brooding of Exhibit B, musician Bertrand.
As the narrator speculates on the uses of everyday objects, including toilets, chickens
and felt-tipped pens, one of each item is obligingly dropped into the cell to see what the
humans will do with it. Meanwhile, Exhibit A and Bs respective spouses meet and soon
begin an uneasy cohabitation observed in all its messy confusion by the unseen aliens.
With Annelise Hesme, Audrey Dana, Thomas Le Douarec. In French, with English
subtitles. NOT ON DVD

Saturday, August 11  6:30 PM

Tribute to Composer Gerald Fried - Fifties
Horror Triple Feature:

I BURY THE LIVING, 1958, MGM
Repertory,76 min. Former colleague of John Huston, Albert
Band (directorof the virtually lost classic, FACE OF FIRE) helmed this scary,
low budget sleeper. New cemetery chairman Richard Boone (TVs "Have Gun,
Will Travel") discovers that he seemingly has the power of life and death over the
town citizenry with the black and white stickpins placed in the graveyards map of
burial plots.Theodore Bikel is the strange, elderly caretaker who may know
more than he is letting on. Gerald Fried (PATHS OF GLORY; THE KILLING) supplies another
great score. " tense little psychological thriller it succeeds through
its dark style and its unbending, relentless pursuit of the oddly imaginative, yet simple
premise."  Josh Hickman, Film Threat

THE VAMPIRE, 1957, MGM Repertory, 75
min. Small town doctor Paul Beecher (the excellent John Beal) mistakenly takes some
pills he found on a dead researchers body and immediately becomes addicted. Sheriff
Buck Donnelly (Kenneth Tobey, of THE THING) connects the dots when people start
turning up dead, and, before long, tormented Beal realizes he is the vampire killer. Coleen
Gray (NIGHTMARE ALLEY) is his devoted nurse, hoping to stay alive as she tries to help
him. A fast- moving, well-acted little gem of a thriller punctuated with an awesome,
chills-inducing score by composer Gerald Fried. Director Paul Landres and crew
manage to create a creepy California Gothic ambience out of the shadows of a quiet
suburban neighborhood  no mean feat! The powerful climax was shot in Griffith Park. NOT ON DVD

THE RETURN OF DRACULA, 1958, MGM
Repertory, 77 min. Director Paul Landres and screenwriter Pat Fielder, aided by
composer Gerald Fried, concoct a supernatual variant on Hitchcocks SHADOW OF A
DOUBT. Francis Lederer is a quite effective Dracula in this chilling, low budget
classic. When the undead count is stalked by an intrepid vampire hunter (John Wengraf)
in Eastern Europe, he murders a man headed to the USA, assuming his victims
identity. Teenage Rachel (Norma Eberhardt) and family are happy to welcome their
visiting European uncle (whom theyve never met before) to their sleepy southern
California town. But they begin to find it odd when they never see him in the daytime.
Soon, disturbing things occur, including the sudden death of blind friend Jenny, and the
charmingly sinister bloodsucker focuses on making Rachel his next vampire bride. Another
one of Hollywoods many 1950s horror pictures to utilize Bronson Canyon cave as
one of its locations. Discussion in between first two films
with actor Theodore Bikel (I BURY THE LIVING),and between 2nd and 3rd
films with actress Coleen Gray (THE VAMPIRE), writer Pat Fielder (THE VAMPIRE, RETURN OF
DRACULA) and producer Arthur Gardner (THE VAMPIRE, RETURN OF DRACULA). NOT ON DVD

Calling all Mummies! Come Early in your best
Mummy Costume for a photo in the Egyptian Theatre Courtyard. Prize for best
Mummification! Download
a flyer!

Hammer Films Double Feature:

New 35mm Print!THE
CURSE OF THE MUMMYS TOMB, 1964,
Sony Repertory, 81 min. Michael Carreras (son of Hammers co-founder, James
Carreras) directed this first sequel to Hammers successful remake of THE MUMMY that
starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. This time out Terence Morgan is the
reincarnation of ancient Egyptian royalty who uses his mummy brother (Dickie Owen)
to target the English archaeologists (Jack Gwillim, Ronald Howard) and an American
carnival huckster (the great Fred Clark) who have defiled an ancient burial site,
attempting to cash in on the mummified remains and artifacts. Morgan is also bent on
bewitching the sensual Jeanne Roland, Howards paramour and the daughter of
one of the slain explorers. Otto Hellers lush color cinematography effectively and
atmospherically disguises the low budget. " a solid, serious thriller which
tells a good tale and even manages to have a twist near the end It also has what must
rank as one of the top ten nasty movie deaths, when the monster, having broken into the
hero's house hotly followed by the ineffectual police, stamps on a cringing Egyptian's
head."  British Horror Films (UK)NOT ON
DVD

IB Technicolor Print! FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN, 1967, 20th
Century Fox, 86 min. Dir. Terence Fisher. In this thoroughly bizarre fourth film in
Hammers FRANKENSTEIN series, the Baron (Peter Cushing) and his assistant (Thorley
Walters) retrieve the body of their young helper, Hans (Robert Morris) after he
has been guillotined for a murder three rich young wastrels committed. Hans girlfriend,
crippled Christina (Susan Denberg), kills herself. Frankenstein transplants the soul of
Hans into Christinas body, inadvertently creating a sensual blonde engine of
vengeful destruction who seeks out the true culprits of the original homicide. This is the
UK version of the film. " this stylishly directed and memorable affair is
considered by genre aficionados to be one of the best Hammer productions. Cushings
female creation is far from the traditional Boris Karloff monster and centres more on soul
transference than body parts, and gore is sacrificed in favour of a gothic tale of love
and revenge. Playboy magazine model, Susan Denberg (Ms. August, 1966) supplies the heaving
bosom and titillation that would become commonplace with future Hammer productions." 
Britmovie (UK)

Wednesday, August 15  8:00 PM

FANTASY, HORROR & SCI-FI SHORTS Approx.
79 min. Join us for this scintillating night of special genre shorts, with several from
local filmmakers. Trevor Murphys "Eye Spy" (Ireland, 3 min). A
sci-fi tale in which our fears about cameras watching us all the time takes on a
horrifying dimension. Yvette Mangassarians "Left Behind" (USA, 14
min). A child ghost does not want his past to be forgotten. Justin Guerrieris "Rocketboy"
(USA, 13 min). A depressed accountant meets a strange young visitor from outer space.
Bobbie Peers "Sniffer" (Norway, 10 min). In a gray society of the
future, one man defies routine convention. Jesse Eisenhardts "Schattenkind"
(USA, 13 min). Three college grads who find shelter in an abandoned cabin find that even
in the middle of nowhere .they are not alone! Brad Keans "Entity Nine"
(USA, 16 min). When a brilliant robotics engineer refuses to continue working under his
corrupt superior, he finds himself stalked by an android bearing his exact likeness;
Stacey Steers "Phantom Canyon" (USA, 10 min). This animated surreal
fantasy was created from over 4000 hand-made collages featuring the work of Eadweard
Muybridge. Discussion to follow with filmmakers Yvette
Mangassarian ("Left Behind"), Justin Guerrieri ("Rocketboy"), Jesse
Eisenhardt ("Schattenkind") & Brad Kean ("Entity Nine").

Thursday, August 16  8:00 PM

Italian Horror Double Feature:

ZEDER, 1983, 89 min. Director Pupi Avati
(THE HOUSE OF LAUGHING WINDOWS) offers up one of his most spine-tingling features.
Freelance writer Stefano (Gabriele Lavia) follows the thread of a dangerous story
after finding cryptic remarks on the ribbon of a second-hand typewriter. Before long, he
unravels a bizarre, post-WWII conspiracy between the government and religious leaders to
suppress discovery of mysterious areas of land known as K-zones, where the dead can be
spontaneously brought back to life (a plot device later used by Stephen King in Pet
Semetary.) Discovering research done by a man named Zeder, he finds himself on the
trail of a shadowy ring of renegade scientists still conducting secret tests on an
abandoned site. But Stefanos life and sanity  as well as that of girlfriend
Alessandra (Anne Canovas)  is soon put in extreme jeopardy. Avati serves up
some supremely sustained scary sequences, giving ZEDER the distinction of being one of the
most frightening Italian horror films of the 1980s.

Rare!BEYOND THE DOOR, 1974, 99 min. Director Ovidio G.
Assonitis (THE VISITOR) directed this so-bad-its-good, possessed-by-the-devil
knock-off that was immensely popular when it was originally released to grindhouses
worldwide. Heavily influenced by THE EXORCIST and ROSEMARYS BABY, the story unfolds
as pregnant housewife Juliet Mills (AVANTI) is suddenly given to obscene outbursts,
vile physical transformations and dangerously violent fits. Gabriele Lavia (ZEDER)
is her hapless husband and Richard Johnson (THE HAUNTING) a mysterious man who
shows up, perhaps to help. " when Jessica (Juliet Mills) begins to turn green
and talk like the Big Bopper, the movies just conventionally disgusting.We get green vomit, brown vomit, blood, levitations and other
manifestations of the devil...It's all trash, but it's scary
trash."  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-TimesNOT ON DVD

.

Friday, August 17  8:00 PM

British Sci-Fi Double Feature!

Rare! IB Technicolor Print!CRACK IN THE WORLD, 1965, Paramount, 96 min.Terminally ill scientist Dana Andrews believes he can siphon off geo-thermal
energy from the earths core by firing a nuclear missile deep below the planets
crust. Colleague Kieron Moore thinks its a bad idea and tries to stop Andrews
before its too late. But, inevitably, the missile is fired, and a crack starts to
appear gradually circling the globe, threatening to break the world in half! Complicating
matters on a personal level, Andrews wife Janette Scott is in love with Moore
(Moore and Scott were a real-life couple at the time and had previously co-starred as a
pair of married scientists in DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS.) The alarmingly real special effects
and production design were by veteran master Eugene Lourie (director of BEAST FROM 20,000
FATHOMS). Theres also a pulse-pounding score by John Douglas and a good cast at
fever pitch. Andrew Marton (co-director of KING SOLOMONS MINES) helmed this
rarely screened, hard-to-see sixties classic. NOT ON DVD

New 35mm Print! QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, 1967, 20th Century Fox,
97 min. Dir. Roy Ward Baker.A brilliant fusion of apocalyptic sci-fi and
supernatural mystery, based on writer Nigel Kneales original teleplay, as
Professor Quatermass (Andrew Keir) excavates a centuries-old alien spacecraft in
the London subway. Unfortunately, the military insists it is an unexploded weapon from
Nazi Germany that was inadvertently buried during the London Blitz. The resultant
political bureaucracy hamstrings Quatermass and his colleagues as the dangerous psychic
link and telekinetic Martian threat from eons past grows more dire. With Barbara
Shelley, James Donald.

Saturday, August 18  5:30 PM

Hammer Films Triple Feature:

Restored and Uncut!THESE ARE THE DAMNED (aka THE DAMNED), 1963, Sony
Repertory, 96 min. Released cut by nearly ten minutes in the US, this is the restored
version of director Joseph Loseys stunning parable of the atomic age.
Wandering American Macdonald Carey and British teddy girl Shirley Anne Field flee
from a gang of delinquents led by her brother Oliver Reed, and inadvertently
stumble upon a nightmare government project to breed children who can survive a nuclear
holocaust! With Alexander Knox, Viveca Lindfors. "In Mr. Losey's hands the
Orwellian secret, involving a group of children raised in isolation under the austere
protection of an all-seeing television eye, becomes frighteningly plausible Mr.
Losey, proceeding with grim logic toward his apocalyptic climax, has made a strong comment
about the nuclear age  while arrestingly demonstrating just how much a gifted
filmmaker can accomplish with limited means."  Eugene Archer, The New
York TimesNOT ON DVD

*PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS ONE ALL-INCLUSIVE TICKET PRICE FOR ALL
THREE FILMS ON SATURDAY AUGUST 18 (INCLUDING THE 9:00 SHOW)

Saturday, August 18 - 7:15  9:00 PM

Fantasy, Horror & Science Fiction
Festival Party!Why wait until
Halloween to conjure the spirits? GATHERING OF THE GHOULS, Spirits, Monsters,
Aliens, Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, Witches, Warlocks one and all, join us to howl at
the moon, rattle The Mummy's Tomb, eat, drink and be gloomy in the Egyptian Theatre
Courtyard to celebrate all things sinister, undead and supernatural. Join us for our
Ghoulish Gathering, a meeting of the macabre with horrific music, food and drink. Come as
the monster you are. No imbibing of human flesh or spirits permitted.

Ultra-Rare! New 35mm Print!NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER,
1960, Sony Repertory, 81 min. Cyril Frankel directed this excellent,
nearly-impossible-to-see Hammer experiment in socially-conscious, psychological horror
that was barely released  perhaps because it was just too creepy and nerve-wracking
for most audiences. Peter Carter (Patrick Allen) is the new principal of the local
high school in a pastoral Canadian community. He and his wife (Gwen Watford) become
just a tad alarmed when they find that their pre-pubescent daughter (Janina Faye,
from HORROR OF DRACULA) and her best friend have danced naked in front of demented, old
Clarence Olderberry (Felix Aylmer), a rich scion of the towns founding clan.
Olderberrys son (Bill Nagy), a hardnosed businessman, steamrollers everyone
in his path in order to quash the investigation and to discredit Carters family. But
even though the son seems to triumph, the elderly Olderberry is tragically not quite done
with his obsessions. The last twenty minutes of this compact little thriller, where the
elderly Olderberry stalks his two young prey through the lonely woods to a deserted
lakefront, is about as nail-bitingly unnerving as anything youll ever see. NOT ON DVD

New 35mm Print!MANIAC, 1963, Sony Repertory, 86 min. Director Michael
Carreras (CURSE OF THE MUMMYS TOMB) helmed this Jimmy Sangster-penned
psychological thriller that has much in common with the suspense mysteries coming out of
France at the time. Indeed, it is set in Southern France, with American drifter Paul (Kerwin
Mathews, of THE 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD) suddenly finding himself caught
between the affections of beautiful young Annette (Lillian Brousse) and her
scheming stepmother, inn-owner Eve (Nadia Gray, of LA DOLCE VITA). Eves
husband resides in an insane asylum ever since he blowtorched-to-death the man who raped
Annette, and Eve convinces Paul to help her break him out of his confinement. But after
the breakout, homicidal complications set-in, and Pauls ability to tell what is
really going on suffers proportionately  especially after he starts noticing the
flickering light of an acetylene torch coming from the inns ancient garage late at
night! With Donald Houston. NOT ON DVD

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE IS ONE ALL-INCLUSIVE TICKET PRICE FOR ALL
THREE FILMS ON SATURDAY AUGUST 18 (INCLUDING THE 5:30 SHOW).

Sunday, August 19  7:30 PM

British Sci-Fi/Horror Double Feature:

CURSE OF THE FLY, 1965, 20th
Century Fox, 86 min. Although nominally set in Canada, this third and final entry in the
original FLY series was shot in Great Britain by Hammer veteran director Don Sharp
(KISS OF THE VAMPIRE; FACE OF FU MANCHU). Beautiful, escaped asylum inmate Patricia (Carole
Grey) marries tormented Martin Delambre (George Baker), a man in thrall to his
mad scientist father Henri (Brian Donlevy) who is bent on continuing the family
tradition of teleporter experimentation. Although there are no human fly hybrids here,
there is plenty of madness and mayhem. Particularly nightmarish are the sequences with
mutants from botched experiments that Donlevy keeps locked in sheds behind their mansion.
Low budget but stylish, fast-moving and very entertaining. With Burt Kwouk (PINK
PANTHER series). "Sharp offers up some suitably horrific moments with steaming
mutated masses arriving in teleport booths or the moment Grey finds the mutant remains of
Bakers former wife playing the piano."  Richard Scheib, The SF,
Horror and Fantasy Film ReviewNOT ON DVD

THE PROJECTED MAN, 1967,
Universal, 77 min. Dir. Ian Curteis.This much underrated sci-fi horror opus
owes much to a blend of the early FLY films as well as Boris Karloffs INVISIBLE RAY,
with pioneering scientist Bryant Haliday (TOWER OF EVIL; DEVIL DOLL) metamorphosing
into a disfigured mutant with a deadly touch after a teleportation experiment goes awry. Mary
Peach excels as his no-nonsense colleague who wants to help him as well as get to the
bottom of what appears to be sabotage by Halidays duplicitous superiors. The saga
moves at a fast clip and delivers some surprisingly grisly shocks. Most people are unaware
of the fact that leading man Haliday was an American-born actor who not only co-founded
Bostons Brattle Theatre, but also the esteemed, arthouse film distribution company,
Janus Films! NOT ON DVD

Wednesday, August 22  8:00 PM

British Horror Double Feature:

HORROR HOTEL (aka THE CITY OF THE
DEAD),1960, 76 min. Dir. John Moxey ("The Night Stalker")."Ring
for Doom Service!" was the legendary tagline created by co-producer Max Rosenberg
for this atmospheric Gothic thriller. The lovely Venetia Stevenson stars as an
unsuspecting college student who goes to Whitewood, Massachusetts to research the history
of witchcraft in the area, only to find it still very much alive, thanks to professor Christopher
Lee and his followers -- some of whom, like warlock Jethrow Keane (Valentine Dyall)
and witch Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel), are well-over 200 years old!
Its up to ministers daughter Betta St. John and student Dennis Lotis
to set things right. Theres atmosphere to burn courtesy of Desmond
Dickinsons evocative black and white cinematography and the very effective,
mist-shrouded Whitewood set. Highly recommended.

DEVIL DOLL, 1964, Gordon Films,
Inc., 81 min. Director Lindsay Shonteff (plus supposedly an uncredited Sidney J.
Furie) and producer Richard Gordon deliver one of the creepiest evil puppet movies this
side of DEAD OF NIGHT. Svengali-like ventriloquist Vorelli (Bryant Haliday, of THE
PROJECTED MAN) hopes to mesmerize desirable heiress Yvonne Romain (CURSE OF THE
WEREWOLF) into becoming his slave, thus jettisoning long-term mistress Sandra Dorne.
But wooden Hugo, who has a peculiar hold over Vorelli, has plans of his own. The
strikingly gritty black and white cinematography is by Hammer veteran Gerald Gibbs. With William
Sylvester (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY). "The film is aided immensely by a darkly
charismatic performance from Bryant Haliday who plays with a cold arrogance that seems to
have been closely modeled on the usual screen manner of Christopher Lee Best of all
are the battles of wills between he and Hugo which contain great psychological
tension...Shonteff adds quite a sado-sexual element, one which was quite a bit more
upfront than usual for the films time The surprise ending comes as a great
shock."  Richard Scheib, The SF, Horror and Fantasy Film Review

Thursday, August 23  8:00 PM

Jess Franco Double Feature:

VENUS IN FURS, 1969, 86 min.
Director Jess Franco reached a mesmerizing, surreal zenith with a quartet of
pictures in the late 1960s/early1970s  SUCCUBUS, VAMPIROS LESBOS, SHE
KILLED IN ECSTASY - and this bewitchingly dreamlike ghost story. Tormented jazz trumpeter
Jimmy (James Darren) cannot reconcile his music with his often chaotic personal
life. After finding the body of Wanda (Maria Rohm), an innocent girl sucked into
the game-playing lives of three wealthy sadists (Dennis Price, Klaus Kinski and Margaret
Lee), washed up on the Turkish shore, Jimmy starts to lose his cool. Fatally obsessed,
he later glimpses Wanda seemingly alive again at various parties  and watches as the
three rich perverts start dying. Sultry chanteuse Barbara McNair (who sings the
catchy title tune) is Jimmys girlfriend who finds her man slipping away into the
arms of a ghost. With an appropriate twist ending and a memorable jazz rock fusion score
by Mike Hugg and Manfred Mann. Franco reportedly modeled Darrens character on tragic
jazzman Chet Baker. "Franco exhales Albert Camus existential smoke, but really the
film is like a Marvel Team-up between Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Russ Meyer set loose in
the Hammer Studios. Translation: It's trippy and campy as hell."  Wesley
Morris, The San Francisco Examiner

THE AWFUL DR. ORLOFF,
1962, 90 min. Director Jess Franco, obviously inspired by everything from Universal
and Hammer scare-fare to Franjus EYES WITHOUT A FACE, spins the tale of Dr. Orloff (Howard
Vernon), an amoral 19th century surgeon who abducts and experiments on
young women hoping to heal his daughters burned face.Franco is one of those
strange, film-obsessed cult directors who has made close to two hundred movies since the
late 1950s  some dreck, some mediocre and some out-and-out masterpieces. Hes
worked with everyone from Orson Welles to sleazy Euro porn stars. When hes on the
mark, his films convey a delightful love of genre and sense of atmosphere. This was his
breakout international hit and the first successful Spanish horror film, originally
released here on a double bill with the now virtually lost Riccardo Freda gem THE HORRIBLE
DR. HICHCOCK. Be sure to watch out for Orloffs blind zombie slave, Morpho (Riccardo
Valle), one of the great monster creations from 1960s Euro horror.

Friday, August 24  7:30 PM

Fifties Sci-Fi/Horror Triple Feature:

New 35mm Print! THE
WEREWOLF, 1956, Sony Repertory, 79 min. Fred F. Sears (EARTH VS. THE FLYING
SAUCERS) directed this compact, nightmarish chiller full of remarkable atmosphere. Steven
Ritch (who co-wrote as well as appeared in the noirs PLUNDER ROAD and CITY OF FEAR)
gives a nuanced performance as an amnesiac traveling salesman who has been experimented on
by two ruthless scientists after hes been in a car accident. He gradually comes to
realize that he is the savage werewolf terrorizing a snowbound mountain community. Don
Megowan is the sheriff investigating, and Joyce Holden is the lawmans
compassionate nurse girlfriend who wants to help Ritch  after all, the tragic
monster is also a victim. A suspenseful, well-done little sleeper that deserves to be
rediscovered. Great use of Big Bear Lake locations. NOT ON DVD

THE BLACK SCORPION, 1957,
Warner Bros., 88 min. Dir. Edward Ludwig. Along with THE GIANT BEHEMOTH (1959),
this is one of the last films to feature the stop-motion animation effects of the great Willis
OBrien (KING KONG). Two geologists, American Richard Denning (TARGET
EARTH; THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED) and Mexican Carlos Rivas investigate a volcanic
eruption in rural Mexico and are surprised to find a number of mysterious deaths occurring
in the countryside. Teaming up with beautiful ranch-owner Mara Corday (TARANTULA),
they discover a legion of giant scorpions emerging from a newly created fissure in the
earth. Although hamstrung by budget, OBrien creates many memorably scary sequences,
and the film moves along at a fast pace as the scientists and military struggle to find a
way to stop the killer arachnids before they reach urban areas.

MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS,1958, Universal, 77 min."Co-ed beauty captive of man-monster! Campus
terror! Students victims of terror-beast!" Director Jack Arnold (CREATURE
FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) follows absent-minded professor Arthur Franz in his
obsessive research. When the dedicated scientist is accidentally contaminated by poisonous
blood from a prehistoric fish, he starts periodically transforming into a Neanderthal
killer stalking his college community. Joanna Moore is his longsuffering
girlfriend. Troy Donahue has an early role as Franz prize pupil whose dog is
briefly turned into a saber-toothed canine. This epitome of 1950s drive-in hokum is
a wonderfully entertaining guilty pleasure. " particularly funny is the
bizarre lengths the script has to go to keep getting Arthur Franzs scientist
re-infected all over again while still unaware of what is happening  with him
cutting his hand on a dogs tooth, while the scene smoking dragonfly blood dripped
into a pipe bowl should have left the film a cult classic for the head set ten
years later." --Richard Scheib, The SF, Horror and
Fantasy Film ReviewDiscussion in between first two films
with actress Joyce Holden (THE WEREWOLF).

Saturday, August 25  6:00 PM

Los Angeles Premiere!

ULTRAMAN MEBIUS AND
ULTRA BROTHERS (UROTORAMAN MEBIUSU ANDO URUTORA KYODAI),2006, Tsubaraya Productions, 119 min. Dir. Kazuya
Konaka. As a 40th Anniversary celebration of the Ultraman franchise, we are
treated to this new battle royale of Ultra heroes versus a veritable legion of past evil
alien foes. Ultraman Mebius (Shunji Igarashi), the current Ultraman incarnation on
Japanese TV, investigates a mysterious, sinister presence surrounding the city of Kobe,
only to be outnumbered by the space invaders. The Ultraman Brothers  Ultraman, Ultra
Jack, Ultra Seven and Ultra Ace  must return from civilian life to help Mebius
overcome the monsters led by the malevolent Yapool and Ultra Killer Zarus. Smash bam CGI
special effects re-energize the giant monster action while the look of our heroes goes a
bit retro in homage to the 1970s heyday of Ultraman hijinks. Screened from digital video
elements. NOT ON DVD

Saturday, August 25  8:30 PM

Fifties Sci-Fi/Horror Double Feature:

INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS,
1956, Paramount, 80 min. Director Don Siegel (DIRTY HARRY) and screenwriter Daniel
Mainwaring adapted Jack Finneys novel into a brilliant, utterly compelling sci-fi
story of a small Southern California town overtaken by alien seedpods that mutate into
emotionless doppelgangers of the human inhabitants. Still one of the most frightening
movies ever made and a paranoiacs delight, the picture has been credited as a
metaphor for the Red Scares McCarthyism. Kevin McCarthy is excellent as the
returning-from-a-trip doctor who gradually realizes the insidious changes going on right
under his nose. The exceptional supporting cast includes Dana Wynter, Carolyn Jones
(Morticia of TVs "The Addams Family"), King Donovan, Larry Gates
and a cameo by a young Sam Peckinpah (!).

FIEND WITHOUT A FACE,
1958, Gordon Films, Inc., 74 min. Dir. Arthur Crabtree.In this staggeringly
weird blend of science-fiction, nuclear paranoia and Lovecraftian imagery, Marshall
Thompson is sucked into a whirlpool of sabotage and death at a U.S. Air Force base in
Canada, only to discover the guilty party is a legion of flying brains addicted to sucking
out human cerebral matter from the back of the neck! A must-see cult favorite from
producer Richard Gordon, and yes, yet another film set in Canada but shot in England! With
Kynaston Reeves, Kim Parker, Terence Kilburn. " executed in
crisp and efficient fashion by veteran director Arthur Crabtree (HORRORS OF THE BLACK
MUSEUM). Crabtree, a former cinematographer, knew how to take tight spaces and milk every
last drop of tension out of the scenes some of the scariest looking and most
grotesque monsters in genre history."  Harold Gervais, DVD Verdict

Sunday, August 26  7:30 PM

Jules Verne Double Feature:

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA,1954, Disney, 127 min. Director Richard Fleischers most beloved film
captures both the childlike sense of awe and the more sober nature of Jules Vernes
classic novel: James Mason is the perfect Captain Nemo, an idealistic intellectual,
but fanatical anti-war crusader using his futuristic submarine to sink the battleships of
every nation. When he picks up salty dog Kirk Douglas, scientist Paul Lukas
and faithful valet Peter Lorre, after sinking the warship on which they were
passengers, the adventure begins. Academy Award-winning art direction and special effects
highlight this surprisingly adult Disney fantasy.

THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, 1961,
Sony Repertory, 101 min. Based on Jules Verne's sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND follows a group of Union soldier prisoners during the Civil War who
escape using an enemy balloon, only to find themselves blown off course to a remote
island, populated by monstrous creatures and the enigmatic Captain Nemo (Herbert Lom)
himself! Directed by Cy Endfield (ZULU; TRY AND GET ME) in a rare fantasy outing,
with a superb score by maestro Bernard Herrmann. With Michael Craig, Joan Greenwood,
Michael Callan, Gary Merrill. Discussion in between the
films with actor Michael Callan (MYSTERIOUS ISLAND).